Brown

(Visiting friends. Photo by Robin. June 2007)

Of all colors, brown is the most satisfying. It is the deep, fertile tint of the earth itself; it lies hidden beneath every field and garden; it is the garment of multitudes of earth’s children, from the mouse to the eagle.

~ Mary Webb, The Spring of Joy, 1917

I discovered a sort of irony to brown as I began this entry. I think of it as a very earthy and comforting color. A color with lots of warmth. But when I started sorting through photos, the first place I looked was through the late fall, winter, and early spring scenes. Although brown appears frequently during the warmer months (especially during a drought), it’s often hidden in the landscape by the brilliant greens, reds, yellows, oranges, blues, and purples. What I think of as a warm color comes into its own during the colder months.

(Reflections. Photo by Robin. 2006)

Red

(Flower at Longwood Gardens. Photo by Robin. June 2007)

The color red has not always been one of my favorites. In fact, it moves in and out of favor with me depending on how it manifests in my life. At this time in my life I often associate it with hot flashes and the color of my skin when my internal thermostat is malfunctioning and I’m heated from within. Or without, on hot days such as today.

Red is the color of my face when I’m embarrassed. I’ve been teased for that for as long as I can remember because I blush easily. Very easily. Red was the color of my hair when I was born. Red is the color of my skin after about 20 minutes in the sun without sunscreen. Red is not a color I’m likely to wear because it brings out all of my natural red coloring.

I often think I have an overabundance of red in my life. But red isn’t all bad and there are times when I’m attracted to it and find it delightful.

Yellow

(Field of dandelions. Photo by Robin. 2006)

I’ve always thought of yellow as a happy color. The color of sunshine and summer, lemons, buttercups, dandelions, and sunflowers. Bright yellow just POPS right out at you, as if the yellow object is lit from within. In some cultures yellow is associated with happiness and peace. The Buddha wore yellow robes after Enlightenment.

(Buttercups. Photo by Robin. 2007)

The initial explosion

(Fireworks. Photo by Robin. 2006)

Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to a soul in a thousand different ways.

~ Oscar Wilde

The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.

~ John Ruskin

The human being is played upon by various influences at various stages of his life in the body. We all know what climate and music will do to create different moods, but one factor often not understood or neglected is the influence of colour. It is always there in our surroundings, in a room, apartment, or house, in our clothing and in our furnishings. It can contribute towards health or take away from it; it can cheer up or depress the emotions; it can invigorate or devitalize the body; it can give pleasure to the eyes or irritate them.

~ Paul Brunton

A favorite of mine

(Crayolas. Photo by Robin. June 2007)

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air — explode softly — and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth — boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either — not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.

~ Robert Fulghum

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. It brings to mind a variety of things at a variety of times.

Today when I stumbled across it again it reminded me of colors and how lucky we are to have so many colors in life.

With that in mind, I’m going to do a small series on color, mostly because I think it would be a fun thing to do, a way to cover the world with a little of my imagination.

The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color.

~ Hans Hofmann

Music

(Waiting for the concert. Photo by Robin. June 2007)

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach

In the shadows

(Longwood Gardens pathway. Photo by Robin. 2007)

The secret of life is in the shadows and not in the open sun; to see anything at all, you must look deeply into the shadow of a living thing.

~ Ute saying

Remember

(Conservatory at Longwood Gardens. Photo by Robin. 2007)

Remember
That to have the eyes of an artist,
That can be enough,
The ear of a poet,
That can be enough.
The soul of a human
just pointed
in the direction of the divine,
that can be more than enough.
I tell you this to remind myself.
Every gesture is an act of creation.
Even empty spaces and silence
can be the wings and voices of angels.

~ Michele Linfante

A fresh attitude

(In my sister-in-law’s garden. Photo by Robin. June 2007)

A fresh attitude starts to happen when we look to see that yesterday was yesterday, and now it is gone; today is today and now it is new. It is like that — every hour, every minute is changing. If we stop observing change, then we stop seeing everything as new.

~ Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

It’s summer!

(Valley Forge. Photo by Robin. June 2007)

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a water of time.

~ John Lubbock

Today is the Summer Solstice. That makes it officially summer in this part of the world. M and I usually throw a big Solstice party by the pond to celebrate the longest day of the year.  We invite everyone we know to come over and have a good time eating, drinking, swimming, fishing or boating in the pond, playing volleyball, flying kites, and whatever else one can think of to do outside in mixed company of all ages.

We won’t be having our Solstice party this year (because we’re here in Sabbaticalville and not at home in the Bogs). Perhaps that will make it all the better next year.

Be sure to pencil it in on your calendar for 2008.

Happy Summer Solstice! I hope the day dawned fine and that you have the time to go out and enjoy it.